I have a student who works for pulmonary doctors, but they don't take my insurance. A cardio pulmonary doctor did read the results and gave it to my general practitioner. I go to the general practioner first before any other doctor, as that is how my health system works. So, I sent out a message to my GP as you will see below.
Hi, I got on line to look up COPD and found out that Primary Sjogrens, which I have, can be responsible for it. That might be why the rheumy ordered the test years ago. I put the topic into the Sjogren's Forum to see what responses I might get from Sjogren's patients. That is the only thing I can think of with not ever smoking or second hand smoke. See you in a month. Judie Palmer
He then wrote back to me and I was very happy that he took the time to learn more about Sjogrens. I am not happy that I have COPD, but am happy that he is taking the time to understand SJS.
Thanks for your message, Judie.
Funny, I also did some research after our visit and found several journal articles showing a COPD-Sjogren's link.
Restrictive lung disease (which you do not have based on these tests) is the type of lung disease that we typically think of being associated with Sjogren's, but there seems to be several papers written in the last few years that show an association between Sjogren's and COPD-- so I think this explains it.
I wrote Dr. Bajpai to keep her in the loop as well.
Have a good weekend,
Scott Karpowicz, MD
Dr. Bajpai is my rheumatologist. How many of us have the opportunity to get a general practitioner who is willing to go the extra mile for us? It made me happy. I needed that so bad yesterday.
Your replies are making me happy, too. I have no one here to talk to about it. Love and hugs to you all.